


One Two Three

by DreamingOfStarrySkies



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Canon Divergence, F/F, Family, Fluff, Humour, Opal AU, Season 1 is fully written, a good time, regular updates, season one, very light angst in some chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:20:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24057376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamingOfStarrySkies/pseuds/DreamingOfStarrySkies
Summary: Steven would be the first to admit that a lot of things confused him, but he knew that there’s one thing he’d always be sure of: how much he loved his family. There’s his dad, Greg Universe who owns the local car wash and his mom Rose Quartz. He’d never met her but he’d heard all the stories and she was just amazing. Then there was also Garnet: super cool and mysterious, and Opal. She had four arms. Enough said.He knew that to some it wasn’t the most regular of families, but it was his and he knew that he wanted to protect them with everything he had.If only he could get his shield to work.
Relationships: Amethyst/Pearl (Steven Universe)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 31





	1. Gem Glow

**Author's Note:**

> My own personal take on the many times done Opal AU. Enjoy :)

It was nearing late afternoon, and Steven was sat in the back of his dad’s van, a cookie cat in his hand and his legs swinging. “The sky is so blue today,” he said looking up at the cloudless sky, “And it’s a really nice day. Can we have a picnic for dinner?” 

“That does sound like a great idea, but it might just have to be sandwiches and maybe a donut for dessert,” Greg said, ruffling Steven’s curly hair and trying to mentally make an inventory of the food in his van. He didn’t have very much at the moment, his cupboards were practically bare except for that old can of tomato soup he’d been saving for dinner. He’d been meaning to go to the grocery store today, but when Steven asked if they could hang out he couldn’t say no to his son. 

“What about fry bits from the fry shack?” 

Greg put his hand on his chin, pretending to have to think deeply about it “I think we can swing that.”

“And…” Steven grinned, looking excited, “We should invite the Gems!” 

Greg’s smile faded slightly. “I dunno, Steven, they might be too busy to come to our humble little picnic.” 

“They’d love to come, I’m sure,” Steven insisted, “I’ll run and ask them. Stay right here!” He jumped down and ran off to the house leaving Greg bemused. 

He opened the door, and was about to call out to the gems, but Garnet was already standing there as if she was expecting him. Garnet was tall and strong looking, with mysterious looking glasses and bouncy looking hair. She reminded Steven of one of his action figures sometimes and she was just as cool as one. 

“Do you guys wanna come to a picnic me and dad are having?” Steven asked, “It’s gonna be on the beach!” 

“I will, but Opal won’t.” 

“Opal won’t, what?” asked the second gem, appearing suddenly from the temple and looking uncertain. “Did I forget something?” Opal was even taller than Garnet and a pale purple colour. Her hair was also bouncy, but it was pulled back in a ponytail that swayed when she moved. She stood on the tips of her toes, even when she was relaxed and she had four arms. 

“No Opal you’re fine, don’t worry.” Steven reassured her, “Garnet just said you wouldn’t want to come for a picnic with me, her and Dad.” 

“I can speak for myself.” said Opal. She tried to say it lightly but there was a slight bite to her words that Steven tried not to notice. “But, yes. I don’t want to.” She patted Steven on the head. Her hand was bigger than his entire face. “Sorry.” 

“It’s all right.” Steven felt slightly disappointed, but sadly not too surprised. “I’ll go tell dad that you're coming Garnet! He’s gonna be thrilled!” 

He ran back to the van to tell Greg the good news. “Garnet is coming but Opal isn’t, on the grounds of the fact that she doesn’t want to.” 

Greg smiled awkwardly. “That sounds like Opal,” he said, and then scratched his head, “I mean, I think it does. We haven’t really talked much lately,” he scratched his head again. “Or ever, really I guess.” He fell silent, not really knowing what to say. 

Steven jumped into the van, and began to look for the picnic blanket, eventually finding it packed under Greg’s extensive CD collection. He began to shake the blanket free of any sand, oblivious to Greg’s cries of ‘Not in the van!’ He gave his dad a sheepish look but Greg, after rubbing his temples just smiled. “Don’t worry Schtu-ball,the van was looking a little too clean anyway.” 

Steven looked apologetic anyway and jumped out the van to finish the job. “Oops sorry.. Can we go get the bits now?” Greg had already made sandwiches for the two (maybe three, you never knew with Garnet,) to share so he carried those whilst Steven carried the picnic blanket, looking comically large in his small arms. 

By the time they got to the boardwalk, the sun was already starting to set, although the air was still warm. They managed to get to the Fry shack before it shut, and Steven ordered his bits from a despairing looking Mr Fryman (Steven has lost count of the times Mr Fryman had begged him to ‘please for the love of all is holy order fries!’) Greg got himself a portion of fries and felt almost bad at the relief in Mr Fryman’s eyes. He considered getting some for Garnet too, but he didn’t even know if she liked fries, so in the end he didn’t. 

After that, they stopped off at The Big Donut, and this time they did get something for Garnet. Steven picked the raspberry and blueberry one for her. For himself, he picked the strawberry and vanilla combination that tasted a bit like cookie cats. Greg picked plain strawberry for himself, and he paid Sadie, one of the workers. 

Steven waved goodbye to both her and the other teen, Lars but whilst Sadie waved back, Lars just crossed his arms and half-heartedly glared. Greg was almost reminded of someone, although HER glares were never half-hearted. 

The three of them sat on the blanket and just watched the waves in silence. Greg had been a little nervous but he needn’t have worried. Garnet was almost always pleasant to be around. Steven had finished his fry bits and sandwich, placing the bits inside the bread: claiming it tasted better that way, and he just had his donut to go. He lay his head in Garnet’s lap and she stroked his hair softly. 

He picked his donut up and took a bite, closing his eyes in pure happiness. It felt like a perfect moment. He had almost all his family with him, and he was eating a delicious donut. What could be better? 

“Greg! Go and get Opal.” He was jolted out of his relaxed state by Garnet’s loud command. He looked around the beach in confusion before finally looking down and seeing the pink gem in his belly glowing.

“What do I do?” 

“Stay calm Steven. Greg’s gone to get Opal so she’ll be here too in a moment. Don’t force anything. It’s going to be fine. You’re going to be fine.” Garnet kept her voice calm and comforting. If Steven freaked out then even she couldn’t say when this would happen again. 

Meanwhile, Greg was tearing up the beach, breathing heavily and cursing how unfit he was. He got to the house and quickly prayed that Opal was in the main home area, and not somewhere in the temple. He opened the door and luckily Opal was sitting on the couch, staring at the blank screen of the television like she was watching something engrossing. 

“Opal!” He panted, hoping that she couldn’t tell how out of breath he was, but knowing that she could. “Come down to the beach, there’s a situation with Steven’s gem.”

Quicker than he could perceive, Opal was on her feet. She picked him up easily in one hand and hoisted him over her shoulder like you would a small child. Greg spluttered in discontent but she was already sprinting down to where he, Garnet and Steven had been sat. 

Once they were there, she dropped Greg on the ground and grabbed a now non-glowing Steven tenderly, who started babbling to her excitedly. 

“My gem lit up and started glowing, and then Garnet told dad to get you and we waited to see if anything would happen, but then it stopped glowing! What does it all mean?” 

Although two of her arms still cradled Steven, another two went up to her mouth, in shock, though her eyes were excited and gleaming. Next to her, Garnet stood also looking proud. Greg began to feel slightly uncomfortable, like an imposter, but he stayed anyway. Steven needed to know his human half just as much as his gem half he reasoned. He had every right to be there. 

“Do you think next time it glows, I’ll be able to summon a weapon?” Steven continued excitedly, clearly oblivious to the mixed feelings Greg had. 

“Well,” said Garnet, regaining calmness, “It’s late tonight, but tomorrow, Opal and I will show you how we summon our weapons and see if you can find out how you’ll personally do it.” 

“Okay,” said Steven, trying to calm down. He wanted to do something now, or ask more questions, but he also wanted to spend time with his family. “Opal, do you want to stay and join the picnic?” 

Opal looked at Greg, clear annoyance in her eyes, but then she looked at Steven and they softened and she sat down with Steven still on her lap.

For a moment it looked like it would go back to the calm of before but then Opal stood up suddenly, looking panicked. “I’ve left the stove on!” She said flustered, running half way up the beach before turning back. “False alarm!” She corrected a little too brightly, her cheeks turning dark purple, “That was five years ago.” 

———————————————————————————————————-————————————-

Steven wriggled excitedly. Opal had volunteered to show him her method first and true to their words, she had taken him up to her tree first thing. Steven had been so excited last night, he could barely sleep and he tried to subtly yawn before refocusing his full attention back on Opal. 

“When a petal falls,” she began, standing in front of the tree and looking at it. “It goes with the flow, and the wind. You can’t force it to fall, but you can’t stop it either. Imagine you are the tree and your gem is the peta- wait that doesn’t sound right...” She looked at Steven confused, but he just shrugged at her.

“Well,” she began again, “maybe you are the petal and you have to create your own dance.” she stopped again, thought about it and smiled. “Yes that sounds right.” 

Two of her hands reached for her gems and she fluidly pulled out a whip and a spear before effortly combining them. In a flash, she had her bow, at least 2.5 Steven’s tall and majestic, beautiful patterns on the back of it, and a strong but flexible string.  
She shot an arrow and she and Steven watched as it sailed through the air. She winced as it hit metal in the distance, but as there was no screaming afterwards, she assumed it didn’t hit anything important. 

Steven picked up a bunch of petals and threw them in the air and tried to imagine he was one as he begged his gem to activate. Nothing happened. He tried not to look as dejected as he felt, but from Opal’s sympathetic smile he was clearly not too convincing. 

They made their way back home, to see Garnet waiting for him. “My turn now.” she said and Steven smiled. Maybe this lesson from Garnet would be the key to mastering the use of his weapon! 

It was not the key. Garnet did not help at all, and instead his confusion only grew.

“Our answers,” said Garnet once they were back home and he was sitting on the couch, squished between Garnet and Opal. “Are not your answers. A gem’s weapon is personal to each and every gem, and so it makes sense that the methods used are also personal.” 

“And,” Opal added, trying to be cheery, “Even if you can’t find your weapon and your gem is useless we’ll love you anyway.” She quickly realised that this wasn’t the right thing to say and shut herself up. 

Steven stood up so he could flop back onto the couch. It felt like a flopping moment. 

“Opal is right,” said Garnet. “Not about your gem being useless, because it’s not, and you are not useless. But about the fact we’ll always love you.” 

Steven smiled and relaxed for a minute before his stomach let out a growl. For a second his heart leapt, thinking it was his gem, but he was just hungry. Really hungry. 

“I’m going to The Big Donut to grab breakfast,” he announced, “Do you guys want anything?” 

“I’ll take another one of those blueberry and raspberry ones I had last night. It was good.” said Garnet. He turned to Opal but she just shook her head. 

Outside The Big Donut was a dumpster. with a suspiciously familiar arrow sticking out of it. Steven gulped but luckily no one but he had noticed yet, so he quickly yanked it out, and at a loss of what to do, threw it in the edge. The dumpster now had a hole in it, but that couldn’t be fixed so Steven just walked inside. No one would notice.. right? 

As per usual, Lars and Sadie were standing at the counter and Steven said good morning to them before studying the selection intensely, trying to decide what his best breakfast option would be.

“I will take one of your best strawberry and vanilla combos,” he decided, “Oh! And also a blueberry and raspberry one please.” 

He handed Sadie the money and waved goodbye. Lars didn’t wave back, but he didn’t look too annoyed this time, so Steven knew Lars loved him really. 

He skipped back home with the bags in his hands and found Opal and Garnet talking in the kitchen. He walked up to them, and they instantly stopped. Steven would have been suspicious, but he felt too hungry. He crammed almost half of his donut in his mouth but paused for a second to take in the donuty bliss. 

He felt his stomach warming up and he looked in shock to see his gem glowing yet again, Opal started clapping her hands together excitedly and this time he tried even harder to bring his weapon out. 

Suddenly there was a feeling he could only describe as a release and out of nowhere he was holding a large pink shield. He looked at it, shocked and awed, and when he turned to the gems for reassurance, he saw his own emotions plastered across his face.

“It’s Rose’s shield,” said Opal in a hushed tone. She tried to be discrete but he watched as a tear fell out of her eye and rolled down her cheek. Overwhelmed, Steven let go of his shield and the gems all watched as it bounced around the room, hitting into things and knocking them over, before finally smashing into the tv and imbedding itself in the cracked screen before disappearing in a flash of light. 

“Oops, my bad, sorry!”


	2. Gem Glow Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is part two to Gem Glow. Before editing it was 1300 words and after editing it was 1933. Probably for the best the chapter was split into two.

“You’ll never guess what’s happened!” Cried Steven, running through the door and up to Opal in total devastation. In his carelessness and grief it slammed shut with a loud bang, but he barely noticed. 

She looked thoughtful for a moment as if trying to work out a worst case scenario.”Did an apocalypse come and wipe out almost all life on this earth?”

“No! Worse! Cookie Cats have been discontinued!” 

Opal weirdly enough, didn’t look too saddened by his terrible news.   
“Are those the biscuits that you like?” 

“Opal!” Garnet suddenly called out, “Concentrate!” 

Steven, in his grief, hadn't realised upon entering the house that Garnet and Opal had been a little busy before he’d come home. 

Well maybe not a little busy per say. The place was infected by large cockroach like creatures, crawling and spitting everywhere, even up the walls. He watched as one climbed along the couch and attempted to bury itself in a pillow to hide from the annoyed Crystal Gems. Garnet managed to pick it up by it’s wriggly back legs before squishing it between her gauntlets effortlessly. 

Steven knew this was the perfect time to try to summon his shield, so he squeezed his eyes shut, and thought shieldy thoughts. He felt nothing except a stomach ache, so he opened his eyes in defeat, only to find one of the bugs right in front of him, one thin leg brushing against Steven’s bare toes and looking like it was getting ready to pounce. 

Before it could jump onto him, possibly killing him dead or messing up his T-shirt, one of Opal’s hands reached out and punched it. Her fist only hit its hard back, but she grabbed it and snapped the thing in half. 

Steven watched as it poofed into thin air, leaving nothing behind and Opal went to find another to squish, but suddenly she stopped and looked at her hands as if in confusion. Steven was certainly confused. 

She looked like she was about to call Garnet but she got distracted by another one coming towards her. She kicked it like a football, and the cockroach landed on it’s back where she simply stepped on it with no hesitation whatsoever. 

“I feel like I’m forgetting to tell Garnet something,” she said to Steven, but Steven just shrugged. He didn’t know. She shrugged right back at him and tried to think. “It can’t have been too important then.” She hoped so anyway. She tried to laugh it off and went straight back into the battle of the cockroaches. 

Steven continued to attempt to bring out his shield, now watching carefully for the bugs, really not wanting a repeat of what had just happened, but Opal and Garnet made quick work of the rest of them and the room was empty of any cockroaches (huge and monstrous or otherwise) before he managed to create anything even remotely shield like. 

He sat on the couch dejectedly, wishing in the moment that he could have a delicious Cookie Cat to make him feel better, but alas the world did not smile upon him. It truly was a rainy day for poor Steven Universe. 

“Steven,” said Garnet, interrupting his dramatic thoughts, “Please check the freezer for me. Let’s make sure nothing managed to get inside.” 

Steven didn’t know how one of the bugs would have managed to do that but he supposed they’d managed to infest the house, so it wasn’t uncalled for to check so he obliged and opened the freezer and looked inside. 

Only to find it stuffed full of Cookie Cats. He turned around in delight, to find Garnet and Opal, looking at him and smiling. “We heard about your Cookie Cats being cancelled, so we went around all the shops we could find and bought you as many as possible. Enjoy!” said Opal. She looked almost as excited as Steven, although it was mostly due to the happy look on his face. 

“I bought them.” Garnet interrupted. “Opal picked them up and left the shop without paying.” 

Opal blushed. “I forgot,” she murmured and Steven laughed and hugged her around the legs excitedly.   
“The whole thing was my idea,” said Garnet, and Steven hugged her too. Opal opened her mouth, but then shut it without saying anything. 

Steven looked at the treats and picked one up feeling delighted he would get to enjoy the Cookie Cat deliciousness for just that bit longer. As he looked at the pure heaven in his hands he began to sing along to the old ad jingle for Cookie Cats. You never forgot your favourite jingle. 

Opal and Garnet smiled and laughed along and Steven grinned delightedly before opening the wrapper and taking a bite. He was in bliss. He was in love. 

“I like to eat the ears first,” he remarked, but he didn’t get a response from either of the gems. He slowly opened his eyes and noticed they seemed to be staring at him expectantly. Steven was confused but then he looked down. 

“My gem!” 

Steven looked at the gem glowing again and tried to calm down. He’d already summoned his shield once, he could do it again! By some miracle, he kept calm enough and somehow manifested his shield and this time he didn’t let go of it, keeping it safe in his grip. 

He looked at it properly now that it wasn’t flying around and he noticed that as well as being pink, there was a rose pattern on it. It was beautiful. Slowly, the shield dissolved into light and Steven’s gem stopped glowing. Garnet, in her excitement, picked Steven up and swung him around making him feel like he was flying through the air like a bird or a plane.

Opal looked happy too, but there was a touch of something else in her face, a sort of confusion to her happiness.  
Steven didn’t mind. He was confused too. Maybe she just didn’t realise just how cool he would be when he could fight with the gems. 

He was about to ask Garnet more questions (he had at least 52, but maybe he could whittle his list down to the 23 most important.) when Opal slapped her head and groaned. “I forgot to mention.” She sounded sheepish, “Remember those cockroaches? Well I noticed something whilst we were fighting them-”

What it was that she had noticed, Steven wasn’t able to find out, because at that moment a loud, low rumbling noise was heard and from the beach he heard the unpleasant sounds of screams of fear. He, Garnet and Opal rushed to the beach to see Jenny, Lars, Buck and Kiki all cowered behind a rock and one of those cockroaches, but easily twenty times bigger than the ones they’d been fighting before. This one was about the same height as Garnet, if not taller. 

Steven almost panicked, but Garnet put a hand on his shoulder, “Steven.” She said, calming his nerves, “Go protect the humans. Lead them away if you can.” She turned to Opal, “You wanted to tell me something.” It wasn’t a question. 

”I was going to tell you earlier, but we got distracted. The corrup-“ she glanced at Steven still standing there, “the creatures. They didn’t have gems. So I think there’s a mother gem somewhere.” She trailed off to look at the cockroach they were facing. “Or there.” 

Garnet sighed. “You should have told me earlier, but I bare responsibility for not noticing. It doesn’t matter now. Steven. The humans.” 

Steven ran over to the Cool Kids and Kiki who were still all behind the rock looking scared..

“Oh hey Steven.” said Jenny, noticing him, and trying to be friendly despite her fear. “What is that thing?” She went to gesture towards the cockroach but thought better of letting even her arm leave the relative safety of the rock. 

“A giant cockroach.” he replied, “That’s what it looks like anyway. Maybe it has a real name.” He thought about asking the gems but he probably had bigger priorities right this second. “Garnet and Opal asked me to help you guys get to safety, so maybe we should get off the beach whilst they’re fighting it.” He suggested slightly shyly. The cool kids were just so.. cool. 

“Sounds good to me.” said Kiki and no one disagreed so they all ran in the opposite direction as fast as possible with Steven following slightly behind, managing to keep up pretty well despite his much shorter legs.

Once they were off the beach, they all took a collective sigh of relief. “You wanna hang with us for a bit, Stevie?” asked Sour Cream. Steven thought about it: he really did want to, but in the end he had to shake his head. 

“Maybe another time, I’d really love to, but I should really go help Garnet and Opal. It’s my duty as a Crystal Gem!” The Cool Kids didn’t really understand, but knew what it was like to have to help out family. 

Sour Cream smiled, bending down for a high-five, “Nah we get it, duty calls. Have a good day.” 

“Have a good day!” said Steven, returning the high-five before running back down to where Garnet and Opal were still fighting the creature. Opal stood a distance away, getting ready to shoot an arrow, and the cockroach took this separation of the gems to its advantage and went to take Garnet head on. Garnet was easily strong enough to handle it, but Steven still felt scared for her. He wished he could do something to protect them.

He felt his gem glow in his belly, feeling warm and somehow familiar, and all of a sudden he was holding his shield again. This time it felt much more natural in his hands. Like It really was a part of him. He stared at it for a moment, transfixed on the delicate carvings. He knew what he needed to do.

It took surprisingly little effort to fling it at the cockroach like a frisbee. It flew through the air, landing directly in the thing’s stomach before the weapon dissolved into bright light. 

It didn’t do much more than knock it back slightly, but it was enough time for Garnet and Opal to use the slight advantage for all that they could. Steven tried to pull out his shield again, but found that he couldn’t. The warm glow was gone. 

There was nothing more to do than watch Garnet and Opal make short work of the battle. They thought skillfully and in a weird way it was kind of beautiful to watch.

The cockroach poofed with a light similar to his shield, leaving nothing but a brownish coloured gem, similar to the ones Garnet and Opal had, which Garnet quickly bubbled and sent to the temple. 

“You did well today, Steven,” said Garnet when they were back at the house. Steven was exhausted, but the gems still seemed full of energy. “We’re proud of you.” 

“I only managed to summon it once though. I tried to summon it again but it didn’t work.” He tried not to feel insecure. He guessed it was pretty cool he could do it at all. 

“It’s going to take practice and hard work, but I know you can do it Steven. You’re going to be great.” Garnet somehow had a way of saying things with such confidence it made Steven believe them like that. 

“Aww thanks Garnet!” His cheeks turned red at the compliment. 

“And don’t worry about Cookie Cats being discontinued. They could always make a return someday.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The gem was an Enstatite. I thought the colours fit well and I liked the idea of giant bugs crawling over everything for some reason.   
> I’m challenging myself to bring this out of being completely stuck to canon by using different corruptions and creating different solutions to problems.  
> Before editing I wasn’t fully happy with this chapter, but it actually turned out better than I thought it would. Thank you to all that have enjoyed this so far, my next update should be on Friday unless I decide to post earlier out of sheer boredom.


	3. Together Meal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven tries to make a meal for the family.. it goes.. about as well as you’d think

Steven stuck his tongue out in concentration, gripping the purple crayon tightly in his fist. The colour was a little too dark for a perfect depiction but it didn’t matter. What he was doing was of upmost importance. He didn’t have time to buy new crayons. The task he had taken upon himself to complete was of upmost importance! It was almost life or death! It was- 

“Er, what are we doing again?” Asked Opal, and Steven let out a sigh before grinning. 

“I’m drawing an official Crystal gems picture, see?” He thrusted the page towards her, where he had already drawn a picture of Garnet looking out to the distance mysteriously (she wasn’t posing, Steven had just seen her and decided to draw her.) and he had started Opal. He had barely drawn an outline and yet he’d already had to explain what he was doing three times over.

“You see, I was going to take a photo but then I thought, 'where’s the passion? The creativity? The love?’ And also I dropped my phone in the ocean, so I thought a drawing would be just as good!” 

Opal nodded, trying her best to understand Steven’s rambling, but not quite succeeding. Steven took the piece of paper back and resumed working. “Hey Opal?” said Steven suddenly, as if a thought had just occurred to him, “How do you stay on your toes like that at all times?” He stood up and attempted to copy her by standing on his tippy toes, but he felt himself stumble. Before he could steady himself, two of Opal’s arms reached towards him and stabilised him. 

“Balance.” She said simply, getting back into her pose. 

Steven waited for her to elaborate, but she said nothing more. Steven nodded and pretended that his question was answered and went back to his drawing. He didn’t have a cream coloured crayon for her hair, so he had to settle for just drawing the shape of it with his black one, but overall his picture was pretty good. Probably one of the best he’d ever drawn.

“I’m all done!” He grinned and went to the fridge and decided on the area to place his artwork. He reached as high up as he could so it would be visible to anyone entering the house and put a magnet in the shape of a cookie cat (RIP) over it to secure it. Maybe he should’ve drawn himself too, but it was too late now. The picture was already on the fridge, and an author wouldn’t exactly edit their book after it was published. 

“Nice picture.” said Garnet who had somehow managed to sneak up behind him. “Opal and I are going on a mission, but I have something to give you before we leave.” 

Steven waited for whatever that was, and she leaned down and wrapped her arms around Steven’s shoulders and Steven smiled, hugging her back. “We’ll see you soon.” she said. Garnet and Opal walked over to the warp pad, and in a flash of light, they were gone. 

Steven waved goodbye, even though he knew the two gems couldn’t see him, and then he went up to his bedroom. He tried to amuse himself with his video games, but he couldn’t help but fantasise about what it would be like when he could go on missions too. It would be awesome! He would kick butt, and Garnet and Opal would be like “wow Steven, you’re so amazing, we’re so proud!” And he’d be like “aw thanks guys,” and it would be amazing and exciting. 

He couldn’t wait. 

He played ‘Awesome Plumber Siblings’ for a bit but then he decided to do something nice for the gems and make them a meal for when they arrived back. They could all eat it together, like a Together Meal!   
He ran down to the kitchen, taking the stairs two at a time and rummaged through the cupboards to find food and he pulled out anything he could find, eventually settling on a large pile of pancakes. He originally kept it classic, with just maple syrup, but it didn’t feel special enough for the gems so he added mini marshmallows and more syrup, although this time it was chocolate flavoured. It was almost perfect but it still felt somehow.. incomplete. He looked at it for a few moments, trying to decide what needed to be done. And then he had an idea! For the final step, just to make it perfect, he took a dark red cherry and placed it on top of the stack. It was a true work of art. 

Now all he needed to do was wait for Garnet and Opal to arrive back. Garnet said they’d be back soon, so there was no way they would be long. 

An hour later, Steven was starting to get bored. He lay on the couch looking intently at the warp pad. He wanted to be there the second they arrived back. Finally, after what seemed like years, the warp pad lit up. He jumped off the couch and went to greet them, but instead of saying hello like they normally would, they both went straight for the temple door. 

Garnet’s stones lit up first and Steven just watched her go in, holding something large and noisy in her hands, but quickly regaining his wits, he grabbed the Together Meal he’d made and followed Opal into her room. He called out her, but she didn’t seem to notice. Steven was used to Opal being distracted and so he continued to follow her into her room. The place was cool and the air felt slightly damp. 

As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he realised that all around him were steep rocks, caves and waterfalls. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to everything, but Opal practically danced around as if she didn’t even have to look to avoid tripping over some of the lower, jutting rocks. She eventually stopped at the highest waterfall Steven could see and jumped to the top before sitting cross-legged, her eyes closed, looking peaceful. 

Steven felt guilty for trying to bother her and went to leave, but he quickly realised that he had no idea how to get out. He had no way of finding the door and even if he could find it, he didn’t know how to open it. 

“Opal?” He called, but she didn’t hear him. “Opal!” He made his voice as loud as possible and she looked down, her calm face turning shocked the second she saw him. 

She jumped down into the water below the waterfall, barely making a splash and began to look over him, checking every area of his body. Steven giggled. She was tickling. “Are you okay?” 

Steven tried to smile, feeling bad for worrying her. “I made us all a Together Meal!” he said, lifting the plate. “I wanted you Garnet and me to have it together. As a family!” 

Steven didn’t notice the split second grimace on her face. “It looks lovely. But Garnet is busy, and um- so am I.” To his relief, but also disappointment she began to steer him in the direction of the door.

“Are you sure?” He said pleadingly, and Opal looked conflicted for a second, before her face turned devious. It wasn’t an expression Steven saw on Opal often, but when he did, he knew he was in for a fun time.

She took his hand and began to lead them in a different direction, pausing occasionally as if having second thoughts, but they eventually arrived at a rockpool, filled with calm silvery water. She stuck her head in and made a motion for Steven to follow suit. 

He stuck his head into the water and looked down. Quickly he realised he could see Garnet and in his shock he tumbled further into the water. Opal tried to stop him, but she was too slow, and Steven fell into Garnet’s room, still holding the Together Meal. Opal sighed. She thought for a second about going back to her waterfall and forgetting about it and dealing with the fallout later. Steven would alright with Garnet, she tried to reason. 

It was tempting, but she couldn’t and with a sigh she followed Steven through the water. 

The room was a lot hotter than hers, but luckily it wasn’t unbearable like it could get. She picked Steven up, so he couldn’t touch anything dangerous and sat him on her shoulder. Garnet turned to the source of the noise and she grinned sheepishly. 

“Steven. Opal.” Garnet casually bubbled whatever she’d been holding but didn’t send it away. She looked at the ground by Opal’s feet, and Steven followed her gaze to see his beloved Together Meal splattered in the ground, sad and soggy looking.

“Our Together Meal!” He wailed. Opal just shrugged lightly, but Garnet looked sympathetic. 

“You spent a long time on that Steven.” she said, voicing exactly what he was about to say before he could even open his mouth. “I’m sorry it was destroyed. I’ll help you two,”with that she gave a look to a sheepish Opal somehow managing to perfectly convey her disopointment even without her eyes being visable. “Out of my room. Then, you can make another one for us to share tonight.” 

Steven grinned, but weirdly Opal didn’t look too happy. Maybe she was mourning the old one like him. “Okay!” He said anyway, and Garnet took him to the door. 

Back in the house, he took a deep breath of the cool fresh air. Opal’s room wasn’t too bad, but the air in Garnet’s room really was hot and it was starting to get suffocating. 

“Opal! Do you wanna help me remake the Together Meal?” Steven asked her hopefully. 

“Sure." 

Steven smiled. He missed the first edition of the Together Meal,in all of its wonderful foody glory, but he'd made it because he wanted to do something nice for the gems and this one would be even better, because now he got to spend time with his favourite gems in the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is a lot less magical than what happened in the show and the reason for that is mostly because this was actually the first chapter I’d written and so I had a much weaker grasp on what I wanted to do with the characters and plot for this. It’s also why this is slightly shorter. 
> 
> I’m having quite a low energy day™️ so my editing for this mostly consisted of getting rid of grammatical mistakes and any glaringly bad sentences than adding things to make it better or more interesting like my normal editing tactic is. 
> 
> Sorry if I’m sounding too negative, don’t worry, not every authors note will just be me whining non stop (hopefully 😓) Have a nice day!!


	4. Too Many Pockets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven gets some new pants and goes on an adventure..

Steven waited impatiently for Jamie to arrive with the post, barely able to concentrate on Crying Breakfast Friends. At long last, he heard footsteps, and he ran out of the house to see the postman carrying a large parcel. He couldn’t help letting out a squeal of delight.

“Sign here,” said Jamie, and Steven quickly squiggled his name, making sure to add a star above the I. He waved goodbye to Jamie and ran back inside the house.

“Garnet! Opal!” He saw the two women clearly prepping to go on a mission. They were standing by the warp pad holding something small and green. Parcel momentarily forgotten, Steven ran over to get a closer look. “What is it?” he asked curiously.

“It’s a cog.” said Garnet. “We found it hundreds of years ago, and I’ve just located what machine it belongs to.”

“What does the machine do?” Steven craned his head to get a better look. The cog seemed to be glowing slightly.

“We aren’t sure,” said Garnet. “We need to go and find out, so we know if we’ll need to destroy it or not.”

“If it could be negative, why not just leave the machine missing a piece?”

“Well,” Garnet smiled. “It’s just as likely that fixing the machine will have a positive effect, and sometimes Steven, it’s important to take a chance.”

“Can I come too?” begged Steven. Opal and Garnet shared a look. Opal bent down, so she and Steven were almost at eye level.

“It’s not that we don’t want you to join us Steven!” She said soothingly, “It’s that you could...”  
Opal placed her hand on her chin as if trying to work out what to say. Steven knew it would be comforting and beautiful! “Drag us down”

“But Garnet!” Steven tried to appease. “You just said: ‘sometimes it’s important to take a chance!' Maybe this is my chance!”

Garnet appeared to be thinking it over. “I did say that. Okay then. We’ll give you a chance.” Opal looked worried, but didn’t say anything. “But first Steven,” Garnet continued. “You should show us what’s in that parcel you have. You were excited to tell us.”

“Oh yeah!” Steven ran over and grabbed the parcel, quickly opening it. “Look! It’s a fancy jacket!” The jacket was nice enough. It was black with red buttons, but the outside wasn’t what Steven was excited about. He turned the jacket inside out to reveal countless pockets. “Isn’t it amazing?”

He put it on and did a twirl. Garnet and Opal both clapped, Opal using all four of her hands so it was like she was giving him two rounds of applause. “I can wear it on the mission and fill it up with important things, so I can be useful he suggested, but before even getting an answer he ran up to his bedroom and began filling the jacket up. Each pocket was large, and he was able to put a lot of stuff in, but even after he’d put in everything useful that he could think of, he still had one pocket spare.

“I’m ready!”

“Okay.” Garnet appeared to think for a moment and then smiled and handed Steven the cog. “In the name of taking a chance, I offer this to you, so you can keep it safe.” Steven took the cog and placed it in his pocket. After making sure it was secure, he quickly hugged Garnet and Opal’s legs before bouncing over to the warp pad.

He’d used the warp pad before with Garnet and Opal, but never to go on missions. Just so they could show him what it was like. The sensation of the light rising up to capture Steven always felt so weird, and he was sure he’d never get used to it.

In no time at all, they had arrived. Steven stepped off of the warp pad, but nearly fell down the smooth surface of the cliff. Opal grabbed onto him before he could plummet and for a few seconds, just held him in her strong arms, until he squirmed to get down. She placed him a little way away, so there was no danger of him tripping and then went to stand with Garnet, looking down.

The drop was so far that even with their enhanced eyesight (relative to humans) they couldn’t see the bottom. Opal was an amazing climber but the surface of the drop was so smooth and hard there was absolutely no where to place her feet. “We could jump for it” said Opal unenthusiastically, but Garnet shook her head.

“No. There are sharp rocks at the bottom, and we could easily…” she made what looked like an exploding motion with her hands and Steven gulped.

Then he had an idea. He quietly took all the rope he had collected from the cowboy game at the arcade out of his pockets, and began tying it together to create one long rope. When the game had first come out, Steven had been confused to find that if you won, the game simply dispensed a long piece of rope, but now he understood why! Eventually he’d tied the last piece. He looked around for something to tie it to, and luckily he found a tree that looked sturdy enough. He looped it around the trunk.

“Guys I’ve figured it out!” He called, “Look, if I throw this rope over the cliff like this,” he threw it, “We can all climb down it!”

With that, he grabbed onto the rope and started climbing down it, as fast as he could Shocked, the gems were too slow to stop him, and Steven began his descent. His plan seemed to be working, and Steven found himself getting excited, but about 30 feet before hitting the ground, the rope stopped. Steven looked down, and this time he was able to see the rocks Garnet had described. They looked sharp.

“Um guys,” he called, as loudly as possible, “Help!”

He’d barely gotten the words out of his mouth when the rope started shaking violently. Steven clung on as tightly as possible and eventually Opal was on the rope, just above him. She reached into her chest gem, and pulled out a whip of some sort. Somehow she managed to flip upside down, and using her strong legs she tied her whip to the end of Steven’s rope. The whip seemed to reach the ground, so Steven quickly shimmied down it, Opal following.

He barely touched the ground, before Opal grabbed him into her arms and held his body close to hers, almost squishing him. Steven braced himself for the scolding of his life, but she said nothing. Moments later, Garnet hopped down to join them and Opal finally let him go.

“Steven,” said Garnet quietly, and Steven nodded. This was it… She would, yell, and tell Steven he couldn’t go on missions with them anymore, and he had to go home right now. “That was very irresponsible of you.” She paused, and then gave him a grin. “But well done. It was also brave.”

Around them, there were piles of sand, making walls, but also forming a narrow tunnel. Garnet started walking through, and Steven and Opal followed. Luckily the tunnel was wide enough for Garnet and Opal, who were both quite large, but the walls were at a slant, making a ceiling, meaning Opal had to duck to avoid brushing it, although she continued to walk on only the tips of her toes.

Soon they were out in the open air and Opal and Garnet both stretched. Steven went to ask what to do next, but he got distracted by everything around him. They were on what could have been a beach, similar to the one they lived on, but there was no water, even though Steven could swear he was hearing the sounds of crashing waves.  
But that wasn’t what shocked Steven into silence. It was the large green wall slightly further out. It was so tall that Steven couldn’t see the top of it and it stretched out endlessly, glinting in the sunlight.

“Wow!” he looked on in awe, and then he remembered his original question, “So, what’s next.”

Garnet adjusted her shades. “See that cave over there,” she pointed. “That’s where the machine is.”

The three walked over to the cave, but sitting outside the entrance, were three large seagulls, pecking at an unfortunate fish.

They tried to walk around them, but the seagulls sprung into attack, baring their teeth and spitting at the gems. A piece of spit landed on a rock and the rock partially dissolved, leaving a large hole in the middle of it.

Opal stepped away and pulled out her bow but Steven stopped her. “Come on Opal! They’re just birds! Maybe they feel threatened or hungry.” He pulled out a sandwich that he’d placed in his pocket, went up as close as he dared, to get the birds’ attention and threw the sandwich. The birds looked for a second, but did nothing but seemingly glare at Steven.

“Sorry, Steven,” said Garnet. “But we’ll go with Opal’s plan. And besides, I don’t think they’re birds exactly.”

“Oh,” said Steven, slightly disappointed, but he guessed most birds didn’t have teeth. Or poison spit.

Opal shot an arrow, and in the air it split into three, hitting each bird and turning them to dust.

“It was a good try, Steven.” said Garnet comfortingly, and they walked into the cave.

Steven expected Garnet and Opal would have to duck, but the inside of the cave was large and spacious. It reminded him of something he’d watched in an old show once. Doctor What or something. The cave was fully green, like the cog and the wall and at the back there it was.

There was nothing protecting the machine, and it appeared to be a mess of parts, and wires, twisting around and occasionally even sparking, yet nothing was happening.

Opal peered at the wires and poked and prodded until she let out a happy ooh sound.  
“I’ve found where the cog needs to go. Steven, can you hand it over?”

Steven’s hand went confidently to the pocket he was sure he’d put it in, only for his confidence to fail. “I can’t find it!” He looked frantically but it wasn’t there.

Opal looked panicked, but then she smiled. “Not to worry, maybe it’s still in your coat! I’ll help you look!”  
Steven protested, but Opal picked him up and started lightly shaking him. It didn’t hurt, but it did make his head feel funny. As she shook him, all of his stuff began to fall out, creating a mountain of items. And then, to his relief, the green cog fell out of one of his pockets.

Opal grinned and picked it up, but Garnet stopped her. “You can’t just shake Steven like that. He’s not a full gem, and he’s delicate. You need to think before you act.”

Opal looked slightly annoyed so Steven made sure to interject, “Don’t worry guys! I’m fine!”

Garnet looked like she had more to say, but Opal just went back to the machine, cog in hand. It took her a few minutes to get it perfectly, and an awkward sort of silence filled the cave. Steven started fidgeting, but then, all of a sudden they heard a loud creaking sound.

They all ran out of the cave, just in time to see the large green wall crack in the middle and open.

“It was a dam!” said Steven, “Mystery solved!”

Well he tried to say it anyway. His mouth was filled with salt water.

He resurfaced, and spat it out. Opal and Garnet were near him, treading water. The beach was completely flooded. There was no dry land in sight.

Garnet pulled him close to her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think this was going to happen. If I knew, I would not have let you join us.”

“What are we going to do?” Steven asked, praying the answer wasn’t what he thought it would be. 

“You’re a good swimmer Steven, you’ll be fine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I’m really bad at working titles and the working title for this chapter was literally f*cking ‘watery pockets’ because I’m dumb. Not that ‘Too many pockets’ is really much better. 
> 
> Sorry this chapter was a little late in coming out! Hopefully it won’t happen again. I really don’t enjoy editing like at all, because I’m not good at it but I’m unsure on how to find a Beta reader. And I oop. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it (just not editing lol) and have a good day!


	5. Happy School Fun (no pain at all)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven goes to school.. that’s all that happens... I promise.

Steven looked at the blackboard in front of him in mute terror. It was horrible, terrible, disgusting, mortifying.

“Well you said you wanted something more complicated than division, so I thought the logical next step would be introducing you to Quantum Physics,” said Opal, confused. “Maybe I’ve written it out wrong.” She checked it. “No, it’s perfect.” 

Steven sighed. Opal had been teaching him for years now, but she wasn’t the best teacher. He could read and write and everything, but sometimes she taught like he was five years old and other times like he was 50 or something. 

He still shuddered from the time she assigned him to read War and Peace as ‘light weekend reading,’ but luckily she’d ended up forgetting about it and taught him how to make friendship bracelets instead. 

“Is there anything cool and gem related you could teach me instead?” 

Opal thought for a moment. “Well... there is something. We were saving it for when you were a little older, but I guess, you are older so it’s okay.”She paused.“Well, I think, anyway.” 

From behind them, the temple door opened and Garnet walked out. “He’s ready,” she said, and Opal flipped the blackboard over to the blank side.

“Steven,” she said, “this is a lesson on shapeshifting.” In her scribbled cursive, she wrote the word on the board and Steven looked at it in delight. He knew the gems could shapeshift; he'd seen Garnet do it before but he didn’t realise…

“You mean, I can do that?” 

“Well,” Garnet interrupted, “We aren’t certain, but we think so. Relax and visualise yourself as what you want to be. Maybe that’s larger hands.”She demonstrated by stretching her hand until it looked like a large baseball mitt, “or longer legs.” She shot up until she was taller than Opal, when normally she only came just past her shoulders. 

“I’m gonna make myself really muscly!” Steven flexed his muscles in preparation, but Opal stopped him. 

“Take it slow. Make sure you don’t hurt yourself. Relax and go with how your body feels. Don’t keep going if it feels wrong.” 

Steven nodded and tried to relax and imagine muscles. Nothing happened. He screwed up his face, and nothing happened. Eventually, he got too tense to continue, and he sat on the couch feeling downhearted. 

“Cheer up,” said Opal, “Just because your first try didn’t work doesn’t mean it won’t. How about we go back to Quantum Physics. Or we could maybe check that you have the alphabet down perfectly.” 

———————————————————————————————————

“Garnet,” Steven whispered, although they were alone in his room, with Opal off in the temple somewhere. He had asked Garnet to tuck him in, so he would get a chance to talk with her alone. “I need to discuss something with you.” 

“You want to try public school out because Opal’s teaching system is too erratic, but you don’t want to hurt her feelings so you want me to tell her.” 

“No! Well... yes, How’d you know?” 

Garnet adjusted her shades, “Magic.” 

“Well... can I? Will you?” 

“I’ve already enrolled you. You can start on Monday. And don’t worry, I’ll explain everything to Opal.” 

——————————————————————————————————-

Opal didn’t take it well, but more than anything, she just wanted Steven to be happy. On Saturday, she took Steven out to buy any equipment he would need. Garnet handed a list of everything to Opal, but when she wasn’t looking, Garnet handed an identical looking one to Steven. 

“For when she loses the first one.” 

Steven had laughed, but true to Garnet’s word, they had only gotten halfway  
through the list when Opal announced she’d put it down to collect something on a shelf, (why she just didn’t use a different hand Steven didn’t know,) and forgotten to pick it back up again. 

“Don’t worry I have another copy in my pocket.” He pulled it out and handed it to Opal. She looked grateful but embarrassed. Steven just shrugged, but made sure to keep a better eye on the list. 

Opal was quick and efficient in the shop, reaching things from the top shelf with ease, and easily weaving through the sea of other shopping carts and shoppers. Steven had to jog to keep up with her long strides and they were quickly done. Opal managed to pay with the card that Greg had given them when he found out they were enrolling him in school, although it took her a little too long to remember the pin code on it. 

When they were going home, Steven sat on Opals shoulders, her hands securely over his ankles, she spoke up, “I’m happy that you get to do what you choose,” she said, “But if you hate it then I’ll always be willing to teach you again.” 

She said that last statement with badly disguised hope in her voice. Steven felt bad, but he knew Opal would be fine. It was only 8 hours a day after all!

——————————————————————————————————

Steven was fairly used to waking up early, so the 6am start didn’t bother him. He hummed as he ran a comb through his hair and picked his lucky shirt to wear. It looked the same as his other shirts, but it felt lucky. He went downstairs to find that Opal had prepared him a bowl of cereal and milk and that Garnet had packed his backpack for him. 

“I’ll be taking you in today so I can have a meeting with the leader of your school,” said Garnet, “Your father would have joined us, but he’s going to be too busy today.” The nearest school was a little way out from Beach City, almost half an hours drive and neither Garnet or Opal had a car, but luckily there was a warp pad only a five minute walk away from the school.

As if on cue, Steven’s phone rang. The caller ID flashed up to a picture of Greg with a half eaten hotdog, “Hey Little man, I wanted to come with you to meet the Principal, but I’m going to be too busy today.” 

“That’s okay,” said Steven, looking at Garnet who was looking slightly smug.“Have a good day. I love you.” 

“I love you too, and I hope your day goes okay. And remember, if anything goes wrong, there’s no shame in telling a teacher!”With that he hung up. 

“And if anything goes REALLY wrong,” said Garnet cracking her knuckles, "You tell me.” 

——————————————————————————————————-

Steven had been slightly worried about the meeting, as Garnet had been known to be rather awkward, but he shouldn’t have had any doubt. The meeting went well, and she explained he’d only ever been homeschooled before, but he was up to date on all his learning, and before long he was sent to the 6th grade class.

He knocked on the door, suddenly feeling a little shy, and after a minute the door opened. “Ah yes, you’re the new student, Steven, is it?” 

Steven nodded and gave a small wave to the class. No one waved back. “Well, my name is Mrs Depen, and you’re in luck. We were just about to begin, but why don’t you tell us a little about yourself first.” 

Steven stood and looked out at the rows of students, hoping to see a friendly face or a smile, but there was nothing. “Um, my name is Steven Universe,” he saw a few eyebrow raises, but he just carried on, “I live with Garnet and Opal, and they’re my guardians, and we’re the Crystal gems and we save the world!” 

That time there was some laughter, “That’s nice Steven, I’m sure that wonderful imagination will be great in English, but right now we’re going to learn some science. Find a spare chair and sit down.” 

The only free chair was at the front of the class, but Steven didn’t mind, so he sat down, carefully placing his backpack on the floor and faced the front ready to listen intently. 

“So, who can tell me what Newton’s third law is?” 

Steven racked his brains, but he couldn’t think. Opal had never taught him about this Newton guy. For a second he felt dumb, but no one else had put their hand up, so he breathed a sigh of relief. He had a notebook opened, and his pen was poised to take notes. 

Mrs Depen sighed, “We went through this the other day. Newton’s third law is that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. There’s going to be a test soon, so remember to take notes to revise from.” 

Steven scribbled down the information. Opal didn't give him tests often but sometimes she would spring a quiz on him out of nowhere, so it was always best that he was prepared. By the end of the class his hand was aching and he was fidgeting slightly, not used to having to stay still for so long. 

The bell rang and recess was announced, Steven went to follow the rest of the class, hoping he’d find his way around, when Mrs Depen stopped him and another boy.

“Since it’s your first day, I’ve asked Joseph here to help show you around a bit. He can show you where the playground is. If you have any questions, ask him.” 

Steven nodded, “Hey,” he said shyly and smiling, sticking his handout to shake. Joseph did not take it, so Steven quickly retreated, trying not to let his smile slip. 

“Come on then,” Joseph said, gesturing for Steven to follow him out of the classroom. He was much taller than Steven who happened to be rather short, and he had short red hair with the sides and back almost shaved off completely. His face was set in a hard line, and he didn’t look happy to have Steven tagging along. They walked out into the playground where they quickly had almost the entire class, and even kids from other grades surrounding Steven. It made him feel a little claustrophobic. 

“So,” said one of the kids in a mocking tone, “you’re a Crystal gem then?” The question was asked mockingly and there were finger quotes around ‘Crystal gem,’ but Steven decided the best thing to do would be to answer genuinely. 

“Yeah! Me Garnet and Opal! They’re my,” he struggled to find an appropriate word, “family, and we save the world from monsters!” 

Without a teacher to stop them, the laughs and looks were a lot more loud and abrasive. “And how do they do that?” 

“It’s like.. magic.” 

“Oh we get it! You’re insane and your mom’s belong in a looney bin.” 

“I’m not insane and they’re not my mom’s! My mom is dead!” Steven felt himself getting more defensive, but that didn’t stop them from egging him on. 

“Whatever. So, are you ‘magic’ too?” 

Steven felt uncomfortable but there was no way to escape. “Yeah!” 

And then, the dreaded words. The ones no kid ever wanted to hear. “Prove it.” 

Steven thought about getting a teacher, or even running to get Garnet somehow, but he was trapped. He thought about summoning his shield, but there was no guarantee that that would work. There was only one thing for it. 

He closed his eyes and forced himself to relax. He tried to shut out all the muttering and stretched his arm above his head. And then further, and further. Almost like elastic, he forced it to stretch out, and only then did he open his eyes. 

He found his arm almost a metre longer than normal, and saw that the looks he was being given were no longer malicious but almost… awed. 

“Whoa!”   
“Weird.”   
“Cool.”   
“Freaky.”   
“Do more!” 

Feeling encouraged, Steven stretched out his other arm. It felt easier this time so he even went as far as doing his legs too. He now felt like he resembled some character in that computer game that Garnet has told him not to play, but he did anyway and got nightmares for weeks. 

Before he could go any further, the bell rang, signifying the end of the break. Steven tried to send his limbs back to how they were before but with a jolt of terror, he found that they stayed resolutely long. He tried to take a step forward, but found himself tripping over and face planting into the ground. Not being able to use his arms properly, it took him a moment to pull his head off the ground and when he looked around he saw that he was completely alone. 

Except one other person. She was a tall Indian girl, with long dark hair and thick glasses, Steven didn’t think she was in his class, but she looked nice.

“Can I help at all? She asked, offering her hand to help him up. Steven groaned and tried to get to his feet. It took him a few goes but he was finally standing, although swaying unsteadily. 

“Thanks,” he said. He thought about holding out his arm to shake, but it didn’t feel appropriate in the circumstances. “I’m Steven.” 

“Connie. Is there anyone that can help us?” 

“The Gems could, but the nearest warp is five minutes away by walking! We’d miss the next lesson.”

Connie didn’t feel comfortable with that idea, but then she looked at Steven, still wobbling around with his freaky limbs. She couldn’t leave him. “It doesn’t matter, I’ll help you find them.” She looked at him again, “What’s a warp? And who are the gems?”

“I’ll explain on the way!”

———————————————————————————————————

Due to Steven being so unsteady and having to heavily rely on Connie for balance the walk took longer than five minutes, but eventually they arrived. “Wow! It’s so cool,” said Connie admiring the shining blue colour and the diamond like shapes around it.

“Yeah,” said Steven, looking at it, “I guess it is.” He had gotten so used to seeing the one in the house that he’d forgotten how awesome they really were.

“So… what do we do?” She asked and Steven looked at it. He knew how to use it, but he’d never done it without Garnet or Opal. And he’d never done it with a full human. 

“Normally we just step on it and sort of think about where we need to go,” he said before falling down.

“Are you okay?” Connie panicked, and Steven winced. 

“Yeah, it just hurts a bit.. like a pulled muscle all over.” 

It was actually a little worse than that, but Steven didn’t say so. There was a steadily rising pain in all of his limbs and he tried not to let out a tear as he shakily stood up again. 

The two of them stepped onto the warp pad and to his relief, it lit up, taking him and Connie back to his home. 

“STEVEN!” 

Opal saw him first and she screamed in a voice way higher than her voice could normally go. She and Garnet rushed over, and she effortlessly picked him up, cradling him in all of her arms. Steven tried to take comfort, but he still felt tense and the pain in his body just got worse when she jolted him. 

“I’m sorry,” he cried weakly, “They didn’t believe me, so I showed them, but now I can’t go back to normal and it hurts.” 

Even Garnet looked panicked, and he felt even worse. “I’m so sorry guys,” 

“No Steven,” said Garnet regaining her composure. “It wasn’t your fault. You’ll be fine. I promise.” 

“You’re sure.” 

Garnet gently turned his head with her hands, and to his shock, took off her sunglasses to reveal three round eyes, all looking directly at Steven. “I promise.” 

Steven nodded. “What do I do?” 

“You need to relax Steven.” She put her sunglasses back on and put a cool hand on Steven’s forehead. 

“I can't!” 

“You have to. Opal, put him down.” 

Opal gently lay him down on the couch and he tried his hardest to focus on Garnet’s cool hand. Slowly, he felt his legs shrinking and the pain lessening. It helped him relax further and his arms followed suit. It took a while, but slowly he was back to normal, if a bit achy and shaky. 

With a start he realised Connie was still there, standing a little way away and looking ashy. “I should get going I guess,” she said, tracing patterns with her shoe. “ I should hopefully get back for the next lesson.” 

Garnet stood up. “I’ll walk you back to school.” She and Connie walked over to the warp pad, and disappeared, leaving Steven and Opal.

“I’m glad you’ve made a friend,” she said finally, “But if you want to go back to Class Opal then no one will judge you.” She paused, “Much.” 

Steven thought it over for a moment.

——————————————————————————————————

Steven stepped shyly into the classroom, just to see loads of smiling faces looking at him completely different to the mocking looks they had been giving him yesterday. Later in the lesson they were split into groups, and everyone wanted to work with him. 

It even followed him to the playground, but Steven waved them off, wanting to talk to one person in particular. He finally found her sat against a wall reading a book. 

“Hey.”   
“Oh.. hey,”   
“I hope you didn’t get in much trouble for skipping a class. Garnet had to call up and say I was sick.” 

“Yeah, my teacher called my family last night and told them I’d missed a lesson. My mum wasn’t happy because the only excuse I could think was that I got distracted reading. I’m grounded. But I’m glad you’re okay.” 

“Thanks,” said Steven, sitting next to Connie who looked surprised. 

“Oh, are you staying?”  
“Yeah.. unless you don’t want me to!”   
“No! I don’t mind.. I just.. are we friends?” 

Steven looked at her, “I thought so.” 

She blushed, “I did too.. but I wanted to make sure.. I’ve only been here a few months and I haven't made any friends yet.” 

Steven looked at her in shock. Who wouldn’t want to be friends with her? “Well you have one now.” 

She looked at him and smiled so he smiled back. They both blushed lightly and looked away giggling. She went back to her book and he just sat there until the bell rang, but they were both happier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WE HAVE CONNIE!! Sorry for the long wait between chapters. I’ll try not to let that happen again. If there are any raging grammar mistakes, please let me no as I didn’t give it a full deep check before posting.   
> Thank y’all

**Author's Note:**

> So I’ve split the first episode into two parts, because it was getting a little long. Updates should be every 4 days, but it may be changed to every 3 or 5 depending on how long it takes me to write Season Two (I want to be about one season ahead if possible) 
> 
> It currently comes to about 23 chapters, but I may add up ending more. I have a tumblr blog at onetwothreeopalau where I’ll be posting art (because I’ve done a lot of art for the story but I’m not a fan of posting pictures on ao3) over analysing certain scenes and answering any questions if you have them. My main tumblr is Nonbinarypearl and there I post (mainly SU) memes and complain about insignificant things in my life. 
> 
> My main challenge writing this was trying to keep it having somewhat of a SU feel whilst making it clear that it is my own thing and it’s the longest thing I’ve ever written by far, so I hope y’all enjoy.


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